Rice hints at lineup switch for San Diego State game

SAN DIEGO — As usual, San Diego State is a contender, and coach Steve Fisher is taking in the view from his perch near the top of the Mountain West.

Fisher might be looking down on UNLV, but he said all he could Friday to prop up a slumping rival.

“Our league is good, but in every league in America you’ll have some teams that start 0-4 or 1-3, and when the dust settles after 18 games, they will be fighting for a conference championship,” Fisher said. “It happens, and UNLV is capable of doing that.”

Incapable of winning a big game since before Christmas, the Rebels (10-7, 1-3 MW) get another shot when they face the Aztecs (13-4, 3-1) at 3 p.m. today at Viejas Arena.

UNLV coach Dave Rice threatened to shake up his starting lineup this week, but he was not tipping his hand on the eve of the game. He wants to keep Fisher guessing, and the truth is, no one knows what to expect.

Will the underdog Rebels rally and make a run at salvaging their season, or will they get blown out and implode?

“We have to be desperate, and I would like us to play desperate all the time,” Rice said. “We have tended to play our best basketball and our most spirited basketball when our backs have been against the wall, so to speak. We should play better, and we are very capable of playing better.”

An unusually angry Rice ripped his team’s “inexcusable effort” in the first half and overtime during an 82-73 loss at Boise State on Tuesday. But his team’s problems go beyond one night. Since an upset of then-No. 3 Arizona on Dec. 23, the Rebels have defeated only Southern Utah and San Jose State, two of the nation’s worst teams.

Rice said he would consider benching his star players, including sophomore forward Chris Wood, who went scoreless in 17 uninspired minutes in the first half Tuesday.

“The bottom line moving forward, I told the guys I am not married to any particular starting lineup,” Rice said. “Guys who start are going to earn their right to start. We need to have a sense of urgency in everything that we do.

“Chris raised his own bar. I talked to Chris and said, ‘It’s a credit to you and a credit to our coaching staff that you have developed the way you have, and you have to bring it every single night.’

“And to some degree, he is the product of his own success, but that’s part of becoming a good player. Now you’re counted on to have success. When you’re one of the best players, you have to take responsibility. He understands. I think he will step up like he has for the most part this year. It’s not just Chris, it’s all of our guys.”

Junior forward Winston Shepard, San Diego State’s leading scorer, said Wood “is like my little brother” because they lived together for two years while attending Findlay Prep.

But Shepard also said he has not spoken to Wood this season because they are on opposite sides of a rivalry.

“I don’t know about desperate, but I know they will come in confident,” Shepard said. “I’m sure they’ll be ready to play, as usual, and it’ll be a tough game.”

The Aztecs won all three meetings last season. Still, Fisher is counting on Wood, freshman guard Rashad Vaughn and the rest of the Rebels to bring their best effort.

“We’ve had great games with UNLV. These are two teams that have great respect for one another,” Fisher said. “The games are close most of the time, wild finishes quite often, and it will be highly competitive. Both teams will be excited to play.”

Fisher pointed to youth as the reason behind the Rebels’ problems.

“Experience. Nobody likes to talk about it when you have it, and when you don’t have it, you miss it,” Fisher said. “If you look at their roster, they play eight guys significant minutes. Five of them are true freshmen. That is extremely difficult. Sometimes with youth, you have peaks and valleys. They are talented, but they have a lot of youth out there.”

San Diego State, which ranks fourth in the nation in scoring defense by allowing 53.4 points per game, is coming off a 60-52 win at Wyoming on Wednesday.

The Rebels must find ways to beat the Aztecs’ intense defensive pressure and overcome the internal strife brought on by a 1-3 league record.

“I think guys get frustrated when you lose a few games, for sure. The guys are obviously disappointed and frustrated,” Rice said. “We’ve got to figure it out, that’s the bottom line, and we are working on that.

“We have good kids in our program, and they are just searching for answers. When they lose, they feel like they have let people down. We need to get back on the winning track, and everything will be fine.”

Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907. Follow him on Twitter: @mattyoumans247.